Valley View vote Wednesday

GOSHEN — Orange County lawmakers head into a critical vote about the future of the county's nursing home on Wednesday with some torn between keeping and selling it.

BY CHRIS MCKENNA

GOSHEN — Orange County lawmakers head into a critical vote about the future of the county's nursing home on Wednesday with some torn between keeping and selling it.

For the second year in a row, the Legislature must decide whether to defy County Executive Ed Diana's push to privatize the Valley View Center for Nursing Care and Rehabilitation by defending budget changes lawmakers made to continue running the facility for another year.

It would take a two-thirds majority, or 14 of the Legislature's 21 members, to override the budget veto Diana issued less than two weeks ago. With eight Democrats and one Republican almost certain to support overriding the veto, the question is whether at least five other legislators will join them.

A key issue for ambivalent Republicans in the closing days of debate has been the contract concessions announced last month by the union representing Orange County government workers, including Valley View's roughly 400 employees.

Union leaders made that late offer to show lawmakers they're willing to make sacrifices help cut Valley View's costs. But after a closed-door briefing with county officials on Monday about the state of contract talks, followed by a brief conversation with the union president, some lawmakers were concerned that the union's position had shifted.

Among them was Republican Steve Brescia, who said Tuesday that in spite of his uncertainty about those concessions, he will likely support overriding Diana's veto to give Valley View — and the union — at least one more year.

"I'm willing to give them another year to come to the table and be serious," Brescia said.

William Oliphant, president of the county's Civil Service Employees Association units, acknowledged Tuesday that the union is no longer offering to form a separate bargaining unit for Valley View workers, but argued the goals could be met by setting separate terms for the nursing home within the larger union contract.

"We're supporting the creation of a separate department within the existing collective bargaining unit," he said.

After 14 months of topsy-turvy battling among county officials and legislators about Valley View's fate, tensions have flared as the climactic vote approaches. During Monday's private discussion, Legislature Chairman Michael Pillmeier crossed the room toward Legislator Roxanne Donnery while hollering at her, according to several of the 19 legislators who were present.

"I was in shock," Donnery recounted.

At a meeting of the Legislature's Health and Mental Health Committee on Tuesday, committee Chairman Michael Amo urged lawmakers on both sides of the issue to cooperate on future decisions about Valley View after deciding on the budget.

"Whoever wins or loses, we all have to come together and make this happen," Amo said.